Pakistani girl shot by Taliban discharged from UK hospital

Pakistani schoolgirl, Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education, is seen sitting in her hospital bed in this undated still picture taken from video provided by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham, central England, and...
REUTERS/Queen Elizabeth Hospital/Handout

LONDON A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education has been discharged from a British hospital where she had reconstructive surgery on her skull.

The attack on Malala Yousufzai, 15, was condemned worldwide and made her a symbol of resistance to the militant group's crackdown on women's rights.

She was flown from Pakistan to Britain for specialist treatment after the October 9 assault.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the English city of Birmingham where Yousufzai was treated said on Friday she had made a good recovery and would continue her rehabilitation nearby at her family's temporary home.

She left the hospital on Thursday after her medical team decided she was well enough to be discharged.

Yousufzai was shot at point blank range as she left school in the Swat valley. The bullet shattered parts of her skull and left her deaf in one ear.

Surgeons replaced part of her skull with a titanium plate and fitted a cochlear implant to restore hearing in her left ear on February 2.

Speaking the day after the five-hour operation Malala said she was feeling better and expected to get well very soon.

"The thing is my mission is the same, to help people, and I will do that," she said.

The hospital did not say whether there were any plans for her to return to Pakistan. (Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

NEW DELHI India's debt-laden steel industry should not take the government's protectionist measures for granted and need to raise their efficiency to compete with foreign companies, the country's steel minister told Reuters in an interview on Friday.